Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP government is clamping down on “illegal” slaughterhouses, accounts for more than half of the approved abattoirs and meat processing plants in the country.

Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP government is clamping down on “illegal” slaughterhouses, accounts for more than half of the approved abattoirs and meat processing plants in the country, the Centre said on Friday.

Minister of State for Health Faggan Singh Kulaste in a written reply in Lok Sabha said licenses have been issued to around 1,700 slaughterhouses by the country’s food regulator FSSAI.

According to figures given by Kulaste, Uttar Pradesh has 42 out of the total 76 approved abattoirs-cum-meat processing plants or standalone abattoirs.

Maharashtra is second with 13 abattoirs while Punjab and Andhra Pradesh had five approved abattoirs each.

“As per the information available in the Food Licensing and Registration System (FLRS) of the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the total number of slaughter houses (mechanised or non-mechanised) for which license or registration have been issued under Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006 is 1,707,” Kulaste said.

He said the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) registers integrated abattoir-cum-meat processing plants or standalone abattoirs engaged in export.

Asked whether any domestic need assessment was done before such licenses were granted, he said, “No such assessments are carried out before grant of licences”.

“In terms of section 31 of the FSS Act 2006, all food business operators have to obtain license or registration for commencing any business,” he added.

After coming to power, new UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered the closure of illegal slaughterhouses and strict enforcement of the ban on cow smuggling to fulfil a key electoral promise of the BJP, which led to their closure.

This has reportedly created scarcity of meat in the state leading to the shutting down of many meat shops, according to reports.